Disney reportedly being offered stake in Nexon sale

Even though Disney's CEO has said that the corporation's interests are in licensing, the House of Mouse may be angling for a majority share of Nexon and its IP.

Disney's hunger for acquisitions has never been a secret, especially as the ink has dried on the 21st Century Fox deal. The deal had the potential for creating antitrust issues between Pixar, Marvel, and Fox coming under Disney control, but the SEC has determined that Disney is welcome to bring more beloved franchises under its mouse-eared umbrella.

Earlier this year, CEO Bob Iger noted that Disney has opened and closed a number of game studios without being any good at the business of making games. Over the years, Disney has moved into more licensing deals, like the one it recently signed with California-based mobile developer, Jam City.

"...we're obviously mindful of the size of that business. But over the years, as you know, we've tried our hand in self-publishing. We've bought companies. We've sold companies. We've bought developers. We've closed developers," Iger has said. "And we found over the years that we haven't been particularly good at the self-publishing side, but we've been great at the licensing side, which obviously doesn't require that much allocation of capital. And since we're allocating capital in other directions, even though we certainly have the ability to allocate more capital, we've just decided that the best place for us to be in that space is licensing and not publishing."

If it turns out that Disney is eyeballing MapleStory 2's developer to be folded into its growing corporate portfolio, it might be that Nexon will continue to operate as though Disney has nothing to do with it, much like how Tencent invests with a light-touch throughout the game industry. If Iger's comment stands, even in the midst of a potential purchase that could be worth 15 trillion won ($13.2 billion US), perhaps Nexon would be well-suited to create licensed Disney games in the MapleStory style.

If it turns out that Disney wins the grand prize (to the tidy tune of $13.2 billion), it could mean that Nexon as we know it will be dismantled. It could be brought under US control and brought home so that Disney's board can keep an eye on it.

Or it could be that Tencent gobbles it all up and nothing really changes.

Amanda has been meandering around the game journosphere since 2010, mostly covering indie games, culture, and industry news. These days, she talks about the business of making games through a critical cultural lens. She adores RPGs, weird narrative indie games, and strategy games that take forever to learn. Amanda is also the editor-in-chief of SuperParent. You can find her on Twitter as @AmandaFaroughor you can email her atamanda.farough@gamedaily.biz.

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